maintain a strong connection to the latest developments in the field that might be of relevance to CEGIS research foci, and yield special opportunities for collaboration and dissemination of research findings. Such societies include the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, Cartography and Geographic Information Society, American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, North American Cartographic Information Society, Geospatial Information Technology Association, and International Cartographic Association.

CEGIS Advisory Board

The advisory board would have two purposes: (1) to provide broad-based input, review, and critique of CEGIS plans, activities, and progress; and (2) to institutionalize the liaison with USGS’s geology, biology, hydrology, and geography disciplines (see Box 4.3 for a description of a somewhat similar approach at NGA). The flow of ideas between the disciplines and CEGIS about research needs, opportunities, and resources is essential to CEGIS’s success (Marty Goldhaber, USGS, personal communication, 2006), as is the flow of research needs from The National Map design team and NGTOC. To be most efficient, CEGIS’s advisory board would have to be limited in size (e.g., less than ten members) and meet regularly (e.g., two to three times per year). To be most effective and well-rounded to capture insights and experience from all facets of CEGIS’s broader set of relationships outside USGS, the board would include non-USGS membership from relevant agencies, academia, and industry. CEGIS leadership would need to define the role and processes of the advisory board carefully to ensure it provides benefits without becoming cumbersome or hampering productivity.

RECOMMENDATION 12: To provide broad-based input, review, andcritique of CEGIS plans, activities, and progress and to institutionalizeCEGIS’s connection to the USGS disciplines, the National GeospatialProgram Office should establish an advisory board for CEGIS that includesmembers from each of the USGS disciplines as well as non-USGS GIScienceexperts.